Code Black
by JMcK
Summary: JJ and Emily tackle a hostage situation unarmed and unprotected.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: I'd intended to write this all in one shot, but it got far too long and had a rather natural break. So, keep an eye out for part two before long. _

_I've missed writing for this fandom. Glad to be back! Hope you enjoy this…_

**Code Black**

Part One

It was about to be a painfully boring few hours.

JJ said as much to Emily as they crossed the big sliding doors into the ER.

They were fine.

There had been a jarring but insignificant collision between their car and that of the suspect they were chasing.

They were both convinced they were fine.

Hotch had insisted that they likely had concussions, which meant a CT scan for them both.

And since any injuries they _might_ have were _minor at worst_, there would be an undoubtedly long wait.

Checking in with the triage nurse, they thanked the uniformed officer who had dropped them off and figuratively 'took a number'.

They dropped side-by-side into hard plastic chairs and shared a rueful, knowing half-smile.

"Twenty bucks says we're not out of here for five hours," Emily offered.

"Suckers bet," JJ returned.

Emily nodded, acknowledged:

"We've both been here before."

"At least we're home this time," JJ pointed out. "Not holding everyone up in some hotel."

Emily was quiet a moment, then she commented:

"They don't mention this kind of thing in the brochures."

JJ met her eyes.

They'd mostly avoided this topic up until now.

But she suspected it was on both of their minds.

"Do you ever regret it?" JJ asked now. "Coming back?"

Emily rubbed her neck, leaned her head against the wall behind her chair.

"There's no short answer to that question."

"We've got the time."

Emily was quiet. Then she turned the tables:

"You first."

JJ took a moment at that.

Because the truth was, she wondered.

Some days, when she had to stare a particularly sadistic killer in the eye, or kiss her son goodbye for what was likely to be several days…

Sometimes she wondered.

But that was heavy.

And she wasn't sure she wanted to dive into it just yet.

"I used to report to a supervisor who thought he wasn't sexist just because he loved his wife," she said rather flippantly. Before Emily could ask about that, JJ added: "But I also hadn't strapped on Kevlar in months."

"A good thing in your book?" Emily prompted.

"What, did I miss the adrenaline?" JJ questioned, and at Emily's nod, she gave her a tit-for-tat response. "You first."

Emily smiled an amused smile, thought it over.

"I missed the people." She paused, then: "I missed the satisfaction."

Before JJ could respond, a surprising thing happened.

A nurse called their names, and a moment later, they were on their way.

…

"Would've been my twenty bucks," JJ noted, as Emily was about to go ahead of her into radiology.

Emily shot her a look:

"Would'a, could'a, should'a, JJ."

With a half-grin, she disappeared behind the door with the nurse, and JJ took a seat in the hallway to wait her turn.

A few minutes passed quietly, and JJ felt her eyes start to flutter closed.

It had been an early morning, and a busy week, and maybe she deserved a moment's rest… right here in the hall…

She wasn't sure if she nodded off or not, but suddenly there was an announcement over the loud speaker:

"Code black. We have a code black situation in the ER. I repeat, we have a _code black_ situation in the ER."

JJ didn't know what 'code black' meant.

She _did_ know how to listen for vocal cues.

And the woman making the announcement, she'd sounded scared.

JJ stood, looked around.

Two doctors rushed past her.

Then the door behind her opened, and a doctor or technician moved past her, followed by a befuddled Emily.

Emily met JJ's eyes:

"I don't know what a 'code black' is, but -"

"But why are we hearing about it up here?" JJ filled in.

Emily's face said 'uh, _yeah_'.

And JJ moved to the currently abandoned nurses' station a few feet down the hall, glanced around to see that there was no one available to them, and rounded the desk.

She quickly found a code listing, posted on the wall by the main desk.

She scanned quickly to 'black'.

And read aloud:

"Violent person on premises."

Emily met her eyes again.

"They said ER?"

"They said ER," JJ confirmed.

They were already walking as they nodded in silent agreement, heading in the direction of the chaos.

…

"I understand that, Sir. I'm sure you're all very well trained and fully qualified," JJ was explaining to the hospital's Head of Security. "But we deal with violent individuals every day, and we're offering our help here. That's all I'm saying."

Emily watched in mind annoyance.

Didn't this guy get that he needed help?

On the other side of a pair of sliding glass doors, a sweating, pacing and undeniably _desperate_ young man was holding over a dozen hostages with a security guard's gun.

JJ hadn't made that point – that it was one of Security's own men who had lost his weapon to this crazed kid.

Emily would have.

But that was probably why no one ever suggested she should handle a press conference.

"You're here as patients. Whatever help we need, we'll get from arriving authorities," the bushy-browed Head of Security was insisting to JJ.

"They'll determine this is a hostage situation and in all likelihood call on our team," JJ told him gently. "I'm asking you to let us get a head start on this. Before anyone gets shot."

Stress was etched on the man's face.

He didn't want to make the wrong choice, Emily could see.

She knew JJ could see it, too, because she stopped talking.

They both waited.

Sometimes, once you caught that look on someone's face, it was like clockwork.

Sure enough, a matter of seconds later, he turned to face them both.

"What do you need?"

"Let's start with access," Emily told him.

And it was in that moment that she felt her first flash of fear.

…

They spoke to Hotch before slipping through a back entrance and into the danger zone that was the ER.

"This will go straight to SWAT," Hotch said to them both over speakerphone. "We might get the call to assist and we might not. Either way, we'll be there in twenty."

"That's twenty minutes for somebody to get shot," Emily pointed out.

They could hear Hotch sigh.

"You're unarmed," he noted.

"So is everybody else in there," JJ pointed out.

Hotch went silent. Then:

"You can both confirm to me that you've had absolutely no ill effects from the crash?"

"None," they both said in unison.

"No headaches, no dizziness -"

"Nothing," Emily insisted.

"If you do this," Hotch started, emphasizing the 'if', "Experience wins out. Emily takes point."

"Got it," JJ told him, nodding even though he couldn't see her.

"Drug seeking is an obvious possible stressor," Hotch told them. "He could also be a former patient, possibly a psychiatric patient. Or he might have a problem with some particular employee. Try to narrow it down, and we'll try to find a way to communicate when we get there." He stopped, then added: "Technically, I can't tell you to do or not to do this."

Emily and JJ shared a look.

There was no question.

Hotch must have known, because after another moment of silence, he said simply:

"Be careful."

And the line went dead.

…

They were able to slip in unnoticed, down a back stairwell and into the fray.

They moved slowly until they were with a handful of patients – one of three groupings of hostages – behind the young man with the gun.

He couldn't have been more than eighteen, a thin white kid in an ancient denim jacket, with dark, unruly hair that snuck over his ears - and shaking hands.

Shaking hands weren't good.

Neither was the way he was whispering to the nurse he had in his grasp.

She was young – in her twenties – and terrified, and though they couldn't make out what he was whispering to her, the snarl on his face wasn't good.

Emily had wanted to take more time, take him in, formulate a theory and a plan.

But his finger looked to be tightening on the trigger.

So she stood up.

"Can I help you?" she asked clearly and calmly.

He whirled on her.

She was vaguely aware that her heart was beating fast.

"I would really like to help you," she told him. "Can I do that?"

"Nobody can do that," the kid muttered.

He looked heartbroken.

Emily needed to know why.

"Did something happen to you? Here?"

"Just shut up," the kid told her. Then he all but growled as he pushed the young nurse to the ground.

"You don't need to hurt her," Emily told him. "You just need to let me help you."

"You don't know what she did," the boy insisted.

"I'll know if you tell me," Emily offered. "Why don't you tell me."

He was silent for a moment, pacing a few feet away and then back.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted. "I can't work it out. It's like the fifth when I was a kid…"

"The fifth what?" Emily asked him.

But he sunk to the ground against the admit desk, chewing the fingernails of his free hand.

The gun remained trained on the young nurse and the few patients in the same general vicinity.

Emily stole a glance at JJ, who caught her eye and nodded her head to the left.

Emily followed the gesture, and spotted a vending machine.

It wasn't a bad idea.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" she asked the boy.

He looked up, seemed almost confused by the question.

"There's a vending machine, just across the room," Emily explained gently. "You can see me the whole time. I'd like to get us some water."

He barely nodded, but it was enough.

Emily moved for the machine, and realized her own hands were slightly shaky as she collected change from the assembled hostages and distributed water.

Her legs were feeling shaky, too, as she approached the kid.

She was acutely aware of her lack of a vest.

She held out a bottle.

It took him a moment, but he accepted it.

And he offered quietly:

"I just wanted to stop her."

He met her eyes, and Emily seized the opportunity for a small victory:

"What's your name?"

"Adam," he told her.

And she nodded, told him:

"Okay."

…

Emily seemed to be making headway.

She was making good use out of knowing the unsub's name.

Every time she said it, JJ could feel him starting to trust her.

That was good.

What wasn't good was that JJ thought she knew what was going on.

She'd listened to the unsub's words to Emily.

She thought she'd figured it out.

She didn't think Emily had, and she wasn't sure how to approach her.

Telegraphing their status as agents would be bad.

And so all she could do was watch.

Five minutes passed, then ten.

JJ started to feel calmer.

She was starting to think that maybe it wouldn't matter whether Emily knew what had started this or not.

The boy – Adam – he was listening to Emily now.

They were speaking so quietly that JJ couldn't hear what was being said.

She watched intently, encouraged when the boy actually let Emily reach out and _rub his back_.

But JJ should have been watching something else.

She should have been eyeing the group of hostages.

She should have known better.

Should have realized that they were stressed to the max, and _they_ were currently the wild card.

She realized it too late, when a burly man who'd been keeping himself between the unsub and his son made a choice.

He made a play for the gun.

There was a lightning-quick skirmish.

Then _a gunshot boomed _–

And Emily crumpled to the ground.

…


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: Please take this for what it is, which is to say that I make no attempt to address any kind of social issue with this story. _

**Code Black**

Part Two

If there had been worse moments than this, JJ couldn't remember them right now.

Blood was absolutely pouring from a wound in Emily's thigh.

Emily was gasping, sucking in air, fighting against the pain.

The hostages were ducking for cover.

Someone was still screaming.

And the unsub – Adam – was yelling at the man who had tackled him.

"Look what you made me do!" he all but screeched. "Do you see what you made me do?"

Emily's glazed eyes caught JJ's own –

"Help him," Emily told her.

"Em -"

"It wasn't your fault!" Emily called loudly, looking toward Adam. "You didn't mean this."

"I didn't!"

"I know!" Emily paused, struggled for breath or words, then told him: "This is my friend. She can help you." She sounded tired and out of breath when she added: "I need you to let someone help me."

Emily's raised head fell back to the floor.

Adam hesitated, broke down, hit his own head with his gun.

He was growing agitated, and that wasn't good.

JJ stood to face him.

"We can take it easy," she said, hoping she sounded soothing. "Let's just take a breath, okay?"

"I shot her."

"I know. But everybody here saw that it was an accident. We're going to find a solution here, you and me. Okay? We're going to figure this out. But we're in an ER and there's a woman bleeding here. You can help her. You get to make that choice."

Adam turned the gun on the nurse who had been his initial target, and JJ braced herself.

But he only waved her toward Emily, and a young male doctor joined them, and JJ took a deep breath.

She focused on Adam again.

"You didn't bring a gun here."

The kid shook his head.

JJ continued:

"None of this was planned. I know that. The police will understand that."

"No, I know about jail," the kid all but moaned. "I know all about jail. I can't -"

He broke off and spun suddenly.

The young doctor treating Emily had stood up.

"Where are you going?" Adam demanded.

"We need to move her," the doc explained. "We need supplies."

"No, I gotta see you," Adam insisted. "You stay right there."

The doctor shot JJ a look – one that said 'help me out here'.

Staying 'right there' clearly wasn't going to cut it.

"You seem like a good kid," JJ started again. "You seem like you want to do the right thing, so let's talk about what that is, okay? Let's talk about how this could end. Nobody else has to get hurt. Do you realize that? You're in control here. You get to make a choice right now that this ends peacefully."

"And I go to jail," Adam moaned. Then: "I can't. I know what they do to you, my old man, he told me all about it, and I tried so hard for so long to -"

"Adam," JJ cut him off. He was starting to ramble, getting lost in his own fear. "Adam, what's the other option? I promise you, there are well armed SWAT officers setting up camp outside these doors. But you haven't killed anybody yet. If you put down that gun, you can still have a life after this."

"What, like my dad?" Adam asked, incredulous.

"Maybe not," JJ hedged, trying to keep up.

She didn't know what his dad had done, or what jail had done to his dad.

But she did know that Emily's blood was a thick pool on the floor.

She could _hear_ Emily's labored breathing, even several feet away.

She had to do _something_.

And maybe she was crazy.

But she thought she had an idea.

She might have been _insane_.

She definitely wasn't operating according to protocols.

It relied on her being _right_ about this whole scenario.

And it was entirely possible she wasn't.

There might have been other options.

Hotch had to be nearby by now.

Somewhere behind the sets of doors, the team was likely working with SWAT, trying to get help to her.

But for now it was just this room.

Just Emily.

And everything the doctors needed to treat her.

And one panicked kid standing between them.

"There might be one other option," JJ said aloud, hearing a slight tremor in her own voice. _These were words they never said_: "You might get out of here with a human shield. I can be that for you."

Adam looked understandably confused.

"You're trying to trick me?"

"No."

"Why would you -"

"Because that woman over there is one of my best friends. And if you and I leave, she gets treatment, and all these people get to go home."

"I don't believe you," Adam told her.

"I can tell you that I used to work for the FBI," JJ told him, fibbing a little about the timeline, hoping the past tense would keep her safe. "I can tell you that some of those SWAT officers surrounding this place? Some of them know me. And I can tell you that if there's one thing they aren't prepared to handle, it's shooting at one of their own."

Adam was considering the offer, JJ could tell.

He had that look, the one that said he was starting to cling to hope.

JJ decided to give him a minute to process it, and she moved to Emily.

"What are you doing?" Emily whispered harshly, her teeth clenched. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I don't want to watch you bleed to death," JJ told her. "And I'm thinking he won't hurt me -"

"JJ, he's out of his -"

"- because I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"Let them take care of you," JJ told her quietly, starting to step away.

"Jaje." Emily sucked in another breath, waited for JJ to turn to look at her. Then she asked her quietly: "If you can help it… if you can stay safe…"

JJ waited for her to finish.

Every syllable Emily managed was a struggle:

"Don't let them hurt him?"

JJ looked her in the eye and nodded.

"That's the plan," she assured her.

Then she walked straight for Adam.

"You put your arm around me, you put that gun to my head, we get in that elevator and we go up," she told him.

A moment later he did just as she'd said.

And she wondered which one of them was crazy.

…

Hotch rushed to Emily's bedside in the ER cubicle, the rest of the team on his heels.

"Are you all right?" He asked quickly.

He could see the pain on her face as she turned to look at the doctor for an answer.

"She will be," he assured them.

So Hotch asked the next obvious question:

"What was JJ thinking?"

"She said she had an idea," Emily managed to tell him.

"Wasn't a good one," Morgan said definitively.

"I don't think…" Emily explained. "I don't think this was it."

"She has a plan," Rossi noted.

And Emily nodded, just as a nurse injected her with what Hotch could only hope was a painkiller.

He exchanged looks with the rest of the team.

What was JJ doing?

No one offered up any thoughts.

A SWAT cop approached, told him:

"They're not moving."

"Which means what?" Hotch queried.

"The elevator's stuck between floors. Either she or he hit the emergency stop."

Hotch thought for a moment, then asked:

"Is there an intercom in the elevator?"

…

"Why are we sitting here?" Adam asked.

And JJ could feel her heart pounding.

This was it.

Either she was right…

And she talked him down right here…

Or she was wrong, and at least one of them died when security got the elevator doors opened.

That, or he shot her on the spot.

She struggled to take a deep breath.

"When you talk about the fifth," she started, and his eyes raised to meet hers. She explained: "You said it earlier. Something about struggling, with, 'the fifth when I was a kid'."

"You think you know me?"

"I think I know about kids whose dads don't deserve that title. Kids who don't know how to honor thy mother and thy father… when the father doesn't deserve anything like honor."

JJ searched his eyes – and felt a tiny hint of relief when she saw that she'd connected.

The Fifth Commandment.

She had at least that much right.

"I grew up next door to five kids in that same boat," she told him.

…

Hotch and the team, sans JJ and Emily, crowded around the hospital security desk as the Head of Security finished flipping switches.

Suddenly, through a hiss of static, JJ's voice could be heard:

"I think you try as hard as you can to get it all right," she was saying. "I think you tried that today, too."

"She still thinks she can talk him down," Reid noted aloud.

"After he shot a hostage? That's a tall order," Rossi pointed out.

Hotch took a seat in front of the desk, turned up the volume.

And listened.

…

JJ had nothing left to say but… _it_:

"I think all you wanted was to stop your girlfriend from aborting your baby."

His face crumbled.

And she forged ahead.

"I think you were too late. I think your mind didn't know what to do with that. I think you panicked."

He cried.

She continued.

"I think you heard your whole life about how thou shalt not kill, but thou _definitely_ shalt not kill innocents."

"The baby _was_ innocent!" he cried. "I was gonna do so much better than my old man, but she wouldn't give me the chance!"

JJ took a moment to sort through her thoughts.

She couldn't react to this as a woman, or a mother.

She couldn't let what she did or didn't believe about the hot-button issue get in the way.

What mattered was that this particular kid-with-a-gun believed whole-heartedly that abortion was the worst kind of sin.

What mattered was that she was _counting on that_.

It was the biggest gamble of her life.

Hotch didn't like lying in negotiations.

But she'd come too far to back out now.

So she said it:

"What would you say if I told you I was pregnant?"

…

Morgan dropped his head into his hands, listening.

"My god," he muttered.

"She's either brilliant or insane," Rossi said to the room. "She's completely unprotected, in a tiny enclosed space with him. And she just said the one thing he's not going to know how to handle."

"I vote for brilliant," Garcia said quickly. "Please, God, I vote for brilliant."

"I wish we had video," Reid said to no one in particular.

As for Hotch, he said nothing.

He just clenched his jaw.

And listened.

…

Adam had been staring at JJ since she'd last spoken.

Finally, he said:

"You're lying."

"I'm not. It's why I was here today."

"In _the ER_? You think I can't see that bruise on your head? You think I'm stupid?"

He sounded panicked again.

JJ hadn't even been aware there was a bruise on her head.

She thought fast:

"I had a car accident. It wasn't much more than a fender bender. I wouldn't have even bothered to come to the ER, except that I was concerned." She caught his eye, added rather calculatedly: "About my baby."

She could see on his face that he was wrestling with the implications of what she was telling him.

She pushed on, the lies pouring out of her mouth:

"I don't believe you're going to hurt me. Not with this innocent little life at stake. I don't believe you want to be no better than her."

He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand.

She let her voice drop to a whisper.

"And I'm not going to let you hurt yourself. And Adam, I'm doing the math here."

She made her voice as gentle as it could get:

"I think you've got one option left."

…

The Head of Security had barely finished speaking – "It's moving! It's coming back down!" – when the five agents took off out of the room.

They were waiting, along with a host of SWAT cops, when the elevator doors opened.

JJ emerged with the gun in one hand and Adam's wrist in the other.

She'd gotten him to hold his hands together, keep his head down.

She handed the gun off to Rossi, and found herself enveloped in Garcia's arms.

SWAT had a weary Adam cuffed and were leading him away as JJ was released by Garcia and wrapped up in a hug from Reid.

Morgan gave her a quick squeeze, Rossi clapped her on the back.

Hotch looked her in the eye.

"I know I lied to him -" JJ tried to say.

"JJ," Hotch cut her off. "We learn the rules so that we know when to break them." He hesitated for just a second before adding: "I'm proud of you."

He said it simply, and nodded at her.

She nodded back.

And hoped he couldn't see the hint of moisture in her eyes.

…

JJ approached Emily's hospital bed quietly.

She'd been through surgery to remove the bullet, and doctors were predicting a full recovery.

JJ had been home to shower and change.

And she felt good.

The room was dark, but JJ could see the balloons at the foot of the bed.

She looked close enough to read the inscriptions from the team's cards, and smiled to herself.

"Hey," Emily murmured suddenly.

"You're awake," JJ said quietly.

She took a seat next to the bed.

"You made it out," Emily noted.

"So did Adam," JJ told her.

And then Emily was smiling quietly too.

JJ told her:

"You're gonna be fine. I'm fine. Thirteen hostages and one unsub came through without a scratch today. Not a bad day's work for a couple of mildly concussed special agents."

Emily nodded in agreement, and there was more quiet, and then JJ reached for and held up one of the cards.

"From Morgan," she told Emily. "It reads, and I quote: 'scars are sexy'."

Emily closed her eyes and chuckled silently.

JJ replaced the card, and took in a slow breath, relishing the feeling of peace.

"What was that you said earlier?" she asked Emily. "You missed the people and the satisfaction?"

Emily nodded.

"Yeah."

"Right. So am I crazy," JJ asked her. "If right now, after _this_ day, I'm more sure than I've ever been in my life, that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be?"

Emily looked her over for a long moment.

Then she smiled again.

And murmured:

"We're not crazy."

…


End file.
